I keep stumbling with my rogue builds for some reason. In fact, I only play rogue-like characters in RPGs so warrior/wizard is completely un-interesting to me until I at least beat the game once with a rogue-based char. My current builds revolve around skills such as: Swords, Dual Weild, Burglary, Assassination, Alchemy, Archaeology, Master of Arms (or Perception). I max out burglary first, but typically I die to a strong monster that one or two-shots me.. do you think this is a mistake of my build or I just need to play more carefully? Also, are any of the new skills synergizing well with rogue skills? Thanks
I really want to make a all rogue/mostly rogue build using anything and everything I can to max vision range (perception, witcher mod skill, etc) and blast things with SUPER EYE LAZERZZZ!! I was thinking of something similar to yours, but since I would have all that vision range, I figured I'd do a crossbow centered build. Maybe something like: Archery, Tinkering, Perception, Witcher (if you don't like mods, sub in a nice vanilla support mage school here, or really whatever) and then...I don't know... As for whether mostly rogue builds can be good, I don't know. It does seem like while rogue abilities are great, they just aren't up to the task of murdering the heck out of monsters quite as well as warrior or wizard skills...
Try this Rogue Scientist Burglary Alchemy Tinkering Unarmed Killer Vegan Archaeology/ Wand Lore/ Perception The basic idea is a long ranged character who doesn't use spells. At the start of the game you'll relay on unarmed to kill most enemies until you got a decent to make a massive supply of bolts. This is fine because the unarmed bonus helps crossbows as well. Killer Vegan makes it so most enemies in the game leave you alone while giving you +5, a ton of health, and a remove debuff skill. With 2 you can make 2 health potions with rust and aqua vitae which off sets the downside of Killer Vegan. Rogue Scientist takes your and and turns it into a weapon. Alchemical Toxin Canster with only 3 is can kill enemies until about floor 9 and after that still leaves them pretty weakened. Alchemical Ooze also helps you make more bolts. With a chest of evil Bolt Eruptor, +17 damage from skills, and +24 damage from tomes you can easily get 80+ damage range without even adding in the bolt damage.
Sword Dual Weird Archaeology (For museum to boosting level up. get money from piracy and buy some time for the museum. MONEY = exp = win) Burglary(For Lock pick to boosting level up, if you are archer or very good at trap, lock up is really good too.) Assassination or whatever(I'm using Iaijutsu) Emomancy (for rape dat mages) *Edit* Piracy this will be hard at early games so don't disarm traps and bait them. arrow trap is my best friend Archer build Archery Burglary Emomancy Archaeology Tinker Whatever. magic or mode etc(viking mage is good. if mode sniper too)
Sword Dual Wield Archeology Assassination Avenging Executioner (from FaxPax) SwiftStriker (from the Swift Striker mod) Ninjitsu (From FaxPax) High-crit/High-counterattack builds are a really good way to create an "offense is the best defense" flavor for roguey builds. A high counterattack rate means that few melee attacks will ever actually land, and you get +37 points of it from skills while wielding two swords. A high crit rate removes the option of getting counterattacked back, and increases the damage from your Avenging Executioner abilities. Swift Striker and Ninjitsu round things out by giving you approach options and a ready stash of thrown weapons and escape options, respectively. Assassination+Ninjitsu will give you multiple on-hit paralyzes/stuns to boot. Aside from an oddity or two (perhaps) in Assassination and high level ninjitsu, your attacks will scale off melee power (melee, thrown, SwiftStriker), crit rate (avenging executioner) and Sneakiness (Assassination). Magic power will be minimally useful, making wearing roguey counterattack/crit/dodge gear very desirable.
Oh, definitely. The real payoff of burglary is Lucky Pick. The later skills like Lockdown and the teleport have great utility for a ranged character, but are less necessary for a melee character. The teleport would mainly be useful for getting to the back of a monster zoo. Five Finger Discount is pretty underwhelming, overall, although it sounds rad. Try pumping Master of Arms first for better defenses, and then Swords/Dual Wield once you arm yourself for a high counterattack rate and more damage. You may also consider switching Alchemy out for Fungal Arts.
Warriors are strong with very heavy armor on. Wizzards are strong if they can blast everything before it gets close enough to touch them. Rogues are the hardest - they don't have the defenses Warriors have, the don't have the offense Wizards have, and they have lower HP overall, so mistakes are more difficult to recover from! Tip #1 - use Piracy, and get the second skill ASAP. That will save you lots of trouble, as it's both offense and defense, and can be used fairly often. Tip #2 - get skills which give you extra XP. If you have a level or two on the enemies you are fighting, that makes things much easier all around. Burglary, Archeology, and Big Game Hunter are all great at this. Tip #3 - use crossbows (and almost certainly get Tinkering to support it). Don't try to kill things with bows - just soften them up before you kill them in melee range. Thrown weapons work best when you have very high - so they are more of a warrior thing than a Rogue thing. Use crossbows. Tip #4 - focus on your Rogue-y-ness after you grab some warrior / wizard skills. Pure Rogue is rough - get 1 magic school, or 2 Warrior skill trees to carry you through the early game. Put 2 or 3 of your first skills points into that tree, and then blossom into your full Rogue goodness later. Adding 3% to your dodge attribute just doesn't compare to +8 damage and stun (which you can get by putting a point into any weapon skill.) Tip #5 - use a pet. Golemancy and Pyromancy have great pets which will pull aggro from you in a pinch. Fungal has a lovely pet as well, plus all the handy handy mushrooms. This gives you lots of chances to practice your crossbow skills. Tip #6 - monster zoos are a problem. Try to get a squid bolt, or tentacle wand, or similar to massively destroy the enemies. Getting a "deep" shot is the key - often making that your first move after opening the door is the way to go. (Though a clever pet can improve that sometimes...)
Master of Arms is a really good skill - not because the bonuses it gives are fantastic (they are fine - but not exciting) but because you START WITH PLATE ARMOR. That makes a lot of the first steps for your character much, much safer. I'm of the opinion that Shield Bearer gives better overall skills and utility than Master of Arms. But the starting armor is fantastic, and makes a huge difference. Magic users or rogues might eventually discard it, but starting the game with some is a huge advantage.
More good builds can be found in the "Share your builds" thread. I'm currently running a dodge focused rogue. Lots of fun so far.
Maxed out Rogue gives you Invisibility AND Teleportation. Between the two you should be able to escape and heal from almost any kind of bad luck. Just keep your lines of sight open so you can teleport away. Don't be afraid to adopt a Hit and Run style of combat until you're strong enough to go Toe to Toe with the monsters. Since you can disarm traps, at some point you'll also be able to pick them up. You can use them to help thin out larger mobs like Monster Zoos, and more single target traps like Fire Spout Mines can be used to kill bosses if you keep them in place for a few turns. One of my favored tactics is to turn invisible, eat some food, move away, and get into a position to rest for a bit before continuing an attack. There are also times when it can be good to Stealth or Teleport into a group of monsters. Like when cleaning out all the ranged/spellcasters at the back of a Zoo. Get into your preferred range without getting shot up then deal with them in melee, chuck some grenades, whatever, then vanish again. Rogue isn't just a class, it's a lifestyle. You need to approach the game with the right mindset to take advantage of what you're good at. If things get to hot, run like you're stealing something. Hope this isn't too thread necromancy-y, last reply was only a week ago.
If you're going dw swords then I'd replace Master of Arms/Perception with Piracy and get Swashbuckling right away.
I agree with Kirk. I'm in the middle of a dodge rogue right now and it is seriously the most defensive build I have ever had. I cleared the floor 13 zoo that had 150 monsters in it with only one melee hit going through. Diggle god of fertility gives me 1hp regen per turn with a regen proc if I get hit. I haven't used any items to heal in 2 floors off. I got 60 so most missiles spells don't hurt me and I have a spare mirror shield to get over 100 if need be. The only things that seem to hurt me on a constant basis are non-missile spells and traps. Even traps I have about a 70% chance of it not going off when I walk over one. Rogues are a very viable build with this new DLC, but they start off very weak.
